As President Dines, New Orleans Flowers

January 16, 2002

While President Bush dined at Antoine's in New Orleans' French Quarter on Monday night, Gennifer Flowers, who once had an affair with Bush's White House predecessor, Bill Clinton, was trying to lure customers in to see her nightclub singing act across the street.

Flowers and her husband, Finis Shellnut, opened a nightclub called Gennifer Flowers Kelsto Club, in late November. Flowers sings when she feels like it, and she and Shellnut sit at the bar most nights, greeting customers.

In a recent interview with The Times-Picayune, Flowers said she has no problem if customers are attracted to the club because of her recent fame across tabloid pages.

"If you want to come see me because you're curious, that's fine, but when you leave you will say, `That girl can sing.'"

CNN signs talk host to a King-ly deal

CNN has agreed to a four-year contract extension with talk show host Larry King that keeps him as the cable network's highest-paid personality.

The contract pays King, 68, almost $7 million a year in base salary, but stock options and other incentives could make it worth much more, according to an executive close to the negotiations who asked for anonymity. The New York Post said the deal was worth $56 million.

A spokeswoman for King, Erin Sermeus, confirmed the deal was essentially done but had no further comment. King was running with the Olympic torch Tuesday in Los Angeles.

Ex-Beatle's belongings stolen, widow says

George Harrison's widow has accused her former brother-in-law of stealing Harrison memorabilia, then trying to sell it the day after the former Beatle died.

Superior Court Judge Dzintra I. Janavs on Friday granted a temporary restraining order barring Carl Roles from selling the disputed items. They allegedly include clothing, records, photographs and other items taken from a home owned by Harrison in Los Angeles' Bel-Air section.

Harrison was 58 when he died of cancer Nov. 29.

Olivia Harrison's suit said a private detective working for the Harrison estate bought 10 boxes of personal items from Roles and his wife, Carol. Carl Roles was once married to Linda Arias, Olivia Harrison's sister.

"I was given permission to remove items from the house," Roles told The Associated Press. "I was authorized to rescue items that went into storage. Some of it has been in storage for more than 20 years."

New Afghan leader a fashion plate

Designer Tom Ford has added something new to the list of things to like about Afghanistan's new leader: His fashion sense.

"The chicest man on the planet today is the new president of Afghanistan, whose look is very elegant and very proud," Ford said after showing his fall-winter 2002-03 collection for Gucci during menswear shows in Milan, Italy.

Hamid Karzai appears almost daily on TV wearing flowing, elegant capes and a gray lambs wool hat. When he was installed as Afghanistan's interim leader in December, he wore a splendid green-and-purple ceremonial cloak.

On a visit to Rome before the ceremony to visit Afghanistan's exiled king, the urbane Karzai, 44, spent a morning shopping on the fashionable Via della Croce.

Rock star Bon Jovi changes his tune

Jon Bon Jovi, who has appeared in several films, can now be seen on the small screen, in a recurring guest role on Fox's Ally McBeal.

"I can't commute. I have a day job. But this is a limited time. It's a very specific role," Bon Jovi, 39, told The Associated Press.

"Having never done television before, I asked Heather Locklear what TV was about. She said just know your lines and think of it like an independent movie -- block and shoot. They only have so many hours a day to get things done," he said.

When he wasn't shooting, Bon Jovi was in the studio with guitarist Richie Sambora working on a new album due out later this year.

"I'm staying in a rented house in Beverly Hills. What else am I going to do with my time?" he said.

Almanac

It's the 15th day of the year; 350 days are left in 2002. On this date:

In 1559, England's Queen Elizabeth I was crowned in Westminster Abbey.

In 1870, the Democratic Party was represented as a donkey for the first time in a cartoon by Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly.

In 1919, pianist-statesman Ignace Jan Paderewski became the first premier of the newly created republic of Poland.

In 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta.

In 1943, work was completed on the Pentagon, now the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense.